Disclaimer: Yes I do own Final Fantasy X-2. It's right here in my hand, see (shakes FFX-2 case) But I take no credit for the wonderful work the creative minds at Square Enix have done in creating this game :P

Reminder: Just a reminder, Rikku is in Gippal's body so it's Rikku's mind in Gippal's body and vice versa.

Change!

Chapter Four: Moonflow Madness!

Rays of sunlight gently bounced over the water of the Moonflow while the pyreflies glimmered eerily in the afternoon light. It would have been the perfect setting for a romantic date if it were not for a certain semi-crazed leader of the Machine Faction splashing around in the water and giggling like a maniac.

"Gippal, what are you doing?" Baralai called from shore as he watched his friend lose the last of his sanity. Gippal hadn't been acting like himself so he and Nooj decided the Moonflow would be a nice spot for him to unwind. Maybe he was unwinding a little too much. "What about the sphere?"

"Aww, come on, lighten up Bar, we have plenty of time."

Baralai sighed. Nooj and Paine stood beside him, mouths hanging open in silent disbelief. Or was that horror?

"Rikku, what the hell are you doing?" Gippal blurted out, rushing down to the bank followed by closely by Yuna. The others gave him strange looks. He was Rikku after all. "Uh, is what you guys should say if it was me!" he quickly added.

"Gippal, are you alright?" Yuna asked the splashing Rikku.

"I'm perfectly A-okay, Yunie, don't worry!" she answered increasing the magnitude of her splashing.

Gippal couldn't believe his ears. He, well, okay, Rikku, had just called Yuna Yunie. What the hell was she thinking? Time to take matters into his own hands.

"Gippal," he stressed the name. "Would you please come over here? We need to talk."

"Sure Rikku, tee hee," she said with an exaggerated wink.

What in Yevon's name had he done to deserve this? Rikku trudged out of the water and Gippal pulled her out of earshot of the others.

"So, what's up?" Rikku asked with a grin, oblivious to the smoke coming out of Gippal's ears.

"What's up? What's up? Rikku, you're making me look like an idiot!" Gippal shouted, causing several nearby divebeaks to fly out of the trees. "I'm not letting you out of my sight."

Rikku stuck out her tongue and pulled down the corner of her eye, "Gotta catch me first!"

She took off running across the bank.

"Aw, crap. Get back here, Rikku!"

He ran after her, pushing his now tiny frame to its limits. He gave one final push and launched himself towards Rikku's back. They fell to the ground and tumbled down the path before finally coming to rest. Gippal found himself on top of Rikku, not registering the awkwardness of their position.

"Look's like I caught you. Now-"

"Um, Rikku?"

Both Gippal and Rikku whipped their heads around at the sound of Yuna's voice. Paine, Baralai, and Nooj all stood beside her, brains working furiously to analyze the situation.

"Ah…" Gippal quickly got off of Rikku, his face burning with embarrassment. Rikku stood up, too, her face flushed.

"W-we're going to start looking for that sphere now," Yuna stammered, not wanting to disturb what she thought may have been a 'special' moment. "You two don't have to come if-"

"Nothing happened!" Rikku burst out, frantically flailing her arms. "Right Gip-Rikku?"

"R-right!"

Judging by the looks on the others faces they didn't believe it.

Paine smirked as she crossed her arms. "Looks like the love letter worked out, didn't it Rikku?"

"Huh? Love letter?" Gippal looked over at Rikku. What the hell was Paine talking about?

"Oh! Uh, come on Rikku. Don't we have a sphere to find?" Rikku asked grabbing Gippal's arm and tugging him down the Moonflow. Trust Paine to almost completely destroy her clever plan.

"Rikku," Gippal hissed as Rikku pulled him along. "What's she talking about?"

Rikku stopped running, which caused Gippal to lurch forward and plant his face in the dirt. "The love letter she double dared me to give it you. It was a dare, what was I supposed to do? I never back down from a double dare!"

"So if Paine dared you to jump off a cliff, you'd do it?"

"Of course."

"And if she dared you to kiss me, you'd do that too?"

"Yup."

Cue awkward silence. Gippal slapped his head. Where had that come from? He had to get out of this body fast! Too many mushy, girly thoughts were beginning to corrupt his brain!

"So," Gippal chanced a comment. "Where do you think this sphere is?"

"Let's see." Rikku looked up to the sky, a frown forming on her lips. "The sun's at a forty five degree angle with that tree over there," she began, measuring with her fingers. She looked to her left. "And that moss covered rock next to the tree might be worth checking out." She sighed and shrugged. "But without the sphere-oscillo finder, I've got no idea."

The little bubble of hope that had been growing inside Gippal suddenly burst. "You call yourself a sphere hunter and you still need a piece of machina to help you? That's pathetic."

"Not as pathetic as…" Rikku searched for something to describe Gippal's patheticness. Coming up with nothing she said the first thing that came to mind, "Your face!"

Gippal smirked. "Yes, this face is pretty pathetic, isn't it?"

"That's not what I meant!" Rikku stomped her foot. It was this seemingly insignificant action of frustration that tossed our heroes into a series of unfortunate events.

Rumble. Rumble. Rumble

"What was that?" Gippal asked, looking around for the source of the ominous rumblings. Here the word "ominous" means "forbidding" or "sinister," but that's beside the point really.

"Maybe it's your stomach," Rikku suggested.

Rumble. Rumble. Rumble.

"That's not my stomach."

Rumble. Rumble. Rumble.

The ground under Rikku and Gippal's feet gave way and they found themselves falling into an underground cavern beneath the Moonflow.

The first to land at the bottom was Rikku and, as fate would have it, Gippal somehow managed to land on top of her in a, ahem, compromising position. Fate certainly has a cruel sense of humor, Rikku thought to herself. Gippal, noticing this, quickly jumped up and offered Rikku his hand. She took it and he struggled to pull her up. "Jeez, you should really start working out, Cid's girl."

"What is this place?" Rikku asked choosing to ignore Gippal's comment. She dusted herself off, albeit more cautiously than if she had been in her own body. 'Gotta be careful where I put my hands.'

"Looks like a cave."

"Duh! Thank you, Captain Obvious," she replied sarcastically. "But how'd we get here."

"I believe it was after you threw your hissy fit, Your Highness," he answered with a bow reminiscent of a stuffy butler. "As I recall you stomped your foot, causing the ground to disappear beneath us."

"I did not throw a hissy!" Rikku retorted as her foot struck the ground once again.

Rumble. Rumble. Rumble.

"Uh, okay maybe I did."

Rumble. Rumble. Rumble.

Rikku looked at the ground but it did not appear as if it was about to crumble. So what was with that rumbling?

"Heh, heh, heh," Gippal laughed nervously, rubbing his head. "That was my stomach. Come on, let's get out of here."

"How do you propose we do that? The exit's up there!" Rikku pointed up to the hole they fell through earlier, the strong afternoon sunlight barely visible above them.

"There's got to be another way out. Let's just follow this path." He gestured to his left where the cavern began spiraling into a tunnel. A very dark tunnel.

"A-are you sure?" Rikku squeaked.

"Yeah, come on."

Gippal led the way deeper into the cave followed by a hesitant Rikku. She didn't like the look of that path. It was dark up there, really dark. Her heart started to beat faster. She was terrified of the dark but Gippal didn't need to know that… yet.

They continued their trek, Gippal pausing occasionally to scratch his head. Maybe there wasn't another way out after all.

"Sniff… sniff… sniff…"

What was that? Gippal shook his head. 'Must be imaging things.'

"Sniff… sniff… sniff…"

There it was again. Gippal stopped in his tracks. Rikku let out a whimper as she collided with him.

"Rikku?" he asked. "Are you… crying?"

More sniffing confirmed the answer to his question.

"You're not scared, are you?" he teased, half expecting to get a whack on the head and a hot retort. But none came.

"I-I hate the dark!" Rikku whimpered through sniffles, which eventually broke out into full-fledged sobs. She was definitely crying.

Gippal cringed. Dealing with machina was one thing but dealing with crying girls was unfamiliar territory to the Al Bhed man.

"C-come on, Cid's girl, it's all right."

Rikku's sobs became even louder.

"Uh…" Gippal awkwardly pulled Rikku closer to him in a hug. "H-hey, don't cry. I-I'm here with you."

To his great surprise, she didn't resist but wrapped her arms around him tighter, her tears fading into dry, hiccuping sobs. Gippal felt his face grow hot. 'T-this feels so wrong. I'm a guy and Rikku looks like a guy… Ah…"

They stood like that for what felt like days to Gippal but it had probably been only been minutes. Eventually, Rikku let go of him and her breathing returned to normal.

"S-sorry Gippal," she muttered, averting her eyes from his. "I really wished you didn't have to see me like that."

Gippal stared. Was this the same girl, the one usually so brimming with overconfidence and peppiness that it made you nauseous? It had to be. But seeing her this way… Gippal didn't like it.

"Hey, it's okay," he answered gently. "We all have our weak moments so don't worry about it."

Rikku smiled. "Thanks Gippal. I guess you're not such a jerk after all."

"A jerk? Me? Never!"

She stuck out her tongue good-naturedly. "Come on, Mr. Jerk, let's go!"

They continued wandering along the dark path. Rikku felt calmer now but she really didn't understand why. Was it because Gippal was with her? She shook her head. That couldn't be it, could it?

A loud thwack echoed through the darkness. Gippal had hit his foot on something hard. He yelped, clutching it in his hand. He looked down and found the source of his pain. A small sparkling orb of light sat there. Wait a minute, could that be…?

"Hey," Rikku exclaimed, her fear of the darkness extinguished at seeing the glow. "What's that?"

She picked it up, a pleasant warmth spreading under her fingertips, and held it out for Gippal to see. "This must be the sphere everyone's looking for!"

"Great," Gippal said through clenched teeth, the pain in his toes slowlysubsiding into dull throbs.

Rikku did some sort of strange victory dance striking a pose at the end. "We got the sphere!"

'Okay, now I'm officially scarred for life,' Gippal thought, cringing inwardly at seeing himself dance. He looked past Rikku and saw a faint glow coming from behind some of the rocks up ahead. "Hey look! There's light at the end of the tunnel!"

"Oh Gippal, don't say that!" Rikku moaned. She wasn't ready to die just yet. Especially not like this.

"No, really. Look!"

Rikku squinted her eyes, looking into the distance. Sure enough, she could make out a pale glimmer of sunlight.

"Yahoo! We're saved!" She grabbed Gippal's hand and dashed towards the light.

"Yunie, we found the sphere!" Rikku cried as she and Gippal scrambled out of what turned out to be a hole in the wall leading back to the Moonflow.

Yuna and the others hurried towards them. "There you are. We were looking all over for you. Are you two alright?"

"We're fine," Rikku chirped.

Gippal grinned in spite of himself. She wouldn't have said that earlier…

Rikku waved the sphere in Yuna's face. "Look, we found it."

Baralai shook his head. "That can't be it Gippal." He held out another sphere in his hand. "This is it."

"Huh? Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Rikku looked at the orb in her own hand. It shimmered faintly in the light. It was definitely a sphere. So why was Baralai so sure that he held the right one?

"Uh… huh?"

The sphere in her hand started to vibrate. A small crack appeared in the side. She held on to it tighter and that was when she noticed it had eyes.

"Eeek!" she screamed, dropping it. It hit the ground with an odd squishing sound and dissolved into a pile of goo.

The "sphere" was not a sphere at all. The red slime began reforming itself into the unmistakable shape of a flan, although an extremely small one.

It squished up its face, opening its deformed mouth to utter its first word. "Faa!"

Gippal's eye twitched. "That has to be…"

"… The cutest thing I've ever seen!" Rikku and Yuna squealed together as they bent down and began fussing over the baby flan.

Nooj, Baralai, and Paine looked on in awe. What was Gippal doing?

"Something is definitely wrong with him," Nooj muttered, watching Rikku "pet" the slimy creature. Baralai and Paine nodded. Gippal slapped his forehead in exasperation. This was going to be a long, long month.

Hmm, this certainly became a long chapter :) I hope this makes up for the long wait of the faithful reviewers and readers! You guys (and gals) are great!

I'm thinking that there will probably be seven or eight chapters to this fic in total (that means three or four more). I have the story semi-planned out :) However, feel free to leave comments in your reviews about what you would like to see. I'll see if I can work your idea in somewhere. See ya next chapter!